If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

WILDWOOD — Joaquin Burgos has not seen or heard from his granddaughter, Claudia
Perez, since she left home on Oct. 5, 2004.

Perez, 14, left home around 4:30 a.m. on the 5th, Burgos said. He said he is
very close with Perez and that is why he is so worried about her. Burgos said he
feels she should have tried to get in contact with him by now.

Burgos said Perez is a caring and tender girl and is always concerned about
people.

He said he was in a nursing home in The Villages for about five months and while
he was there he received a call at the nurses desk. He said they informed him it
was a girl and she asked if he was there alone.

“I just wish she would try to get a hold of me somehow and let me know that she
is OK,” he said.

Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Perez’s mother,
Rosemary Burgos, called the police about her missing daughter on Oct. 5.
Caruthers said the police met with Rosemary at their apartment on County Road
242 and gathered information on the daughter. The mother told police she heard
two knocks on the door through the night. Rosemary said she went to the door but
did not see anyone and the next morning her daughter was missing, Caruther said.
She told the police she discovered her daughter missing around 6 a.m. Caruthers
said Perez had taken all her clothes and left a note with the grandfather
indicating that she was running away.

Joaquin said the note from Perez thanked him for everything he did for her, said
that she loved him and asked him to tell her boyfriend that she was sorry.

The family notified all the local papers as well as the police, Caruther said.
He said detectives and deputies have checked out Perez’s boyfriend’s house,
motels and put out a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) report. Perez’s school Wildwood
Middle School, also put a message up on their closed circuit television asking
friends and classmates to give the school, or police, any information they might
have on the whereabouts of Perez.

Caruthers said the police have had several calls since the initial report. She
was spotted at Wal-Mart and the police tried to get to the store in time but
came up with negative results, Caruthers said. He said the station has also
received calls stating she was at a specific house but when the police got there
she was gone and those in the home would deny the allegations. Caruthers said
the latest call was about a month ago stating Perez was in an unknown trailer
park in Belleview. He said the Marion County police were notified and nothing
came of the tip.

“We have been to her boyfriend’s house several times, and a niece might have
information on her whereabouts but is denying having any knowledge,” Caruther
said.

He said the information concerning her case has been presented at several
intelligence meetings, including ones in Lake County.

Caruthers said Det. Reese Thompson is the police officer in charge of the
investigation.

“Any information that would help us locate Claudia we ask that they call Sumter
Co. Sheriff’s Office,” Caruthers said. “We do want to find her and at least make
sure she is safe and reunite her with her grandfather.”

WILDWOOD - It has been one year since Claudia Perez left home, and Joaquin Burgos, her grandfather, has been patiently waiting to hear something from her. "I just wish she would try to get a hold of me somehow and let me know that she is OK," he said.

Perez, 15, left home around 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 5, 2004, Burgos said. He is very close with Perez and that is why he is so worried about her, Burgos said. He said Perez is a caring and tender girl and is always concerned about people.

Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said Perez's mother, Rosemary Burgos, called the police about' her missing daughter the day she was last' seen. Caruthers said the police met with Rosemary at their apartment on County Road 242 and gathered information on the daughter.

The mother told police she heard two knocks on the door through the night. Rosemary said she went to the door but did not see anyone. She told the police she discovered her daughter missing around 6 a.m. Caruthers said Perez had taken all her clothes and left a note with the grandpa indicating that she was running away. Burgos said the note from Perez thanked him for every*thing he did for her, said that she loved him and asked him to tell her boyfriend that she was sorry.

A little more than a month ago, Burgos started a Web site for his granddaughter. He said he has not yet received any information on the whereabouts of Perez, but he has received many notes of sympathy. "Seven hundred people have visited the site as of Sunday," Burgos said. Burgos said he has kept in constant contact with the Sumter County Sheriff's Office over the past year, and the department is still trying to help him locate his granddaughter. "

Her grandmother said she saw her at one point, but Burgos, said her sister looks a lot like her, causing some confusion about possible sigtings. "I would really like for her to try and get in touch with me," Burgos said. “That is the hardest part, not knowing anything."

He said he hopes that she will e-mail, call or get in touch with someone so the family at least know she is safe and healthy. He said there is nothing she has done that the family cannot resolve or forgive. "The family loves her and misses her," Burgos said.

Rosemary Burgos, Claudia's, mother, said nobody seems to know anything and the local police have not done anything to help the, family. She said she called the police and after a report was made they have not helped the family in any way to find her daughter. "It has been really weird, it is like they don't even care she. is missing," Rosemary said. "We have done everything we can to try and find her, but locally nobody around her has helped us at all."

Caruthers said Det. Reese Thompson is the police officer in charge of the investigation. "Any information that would help us locate Claudia we ask that they call Sumter County; Sheriff’s Office," Caruthers said. "We do want to find her and at least make sure she is safe and reunite her with her grandfather."

Claudia has been added to Project Jason's Adopt a Missing Person program. Please consider helping reunite Claudia with her family by wearing her photo button and sharing her story with others. For more details on how you can make a difference, please see:

FL-Help! Bring Home Claudia Perez

Please take a moment to look at the website I had created to aid in the search for my missing granddaughter, Claudia Perez. She has been missing from Wildwood, FL since 10/5/2004. No one has heard from her since. She is only 15 years old. I ask you to look at her site and information, and if you are moved to help, place posters of her and share her website via email, or post it on other forums.

I would be very grateful if you would put yourself in my shoes for a moment and consider helping our family to bring Claudia home. Thank you.

This isn't her's right? I mean this girl posted today... and she's from California vs. Florida? There have got to be thousands of "Claudia Perez's" in the US.... Hopefully no one here will hound this poor girl through email if it isn't her...

Claudia perez

hello all the girl on that picture at lady joker101 xanga site is not the same girl there is a slite resemblance but it is not her....I want to say thanksa to allof you who hve taken the time to view this and cared about Claudia..thanks to all and GOD BLESS Claudia's grandfather .........joaquin burgos

I hope that your granddaughter is found soon and returned to you safe and sound. It has to be so hard not knowing where she is and if she is alright. She may think that she is old enough to be out there on her own but she is only 15 yrs old. Seems that kids want to grow up so fast in this day and age. It's to bad they don't just slow down and enjoy being kids. Responsibility comes soon enough and then we have it for life.

Did your granddaughter have a boyfriend that she may have left with? Friends that she could be staying with? Has she always lived with you or do her parents live in another city/state where she has friends that she may have gone to? It's doubtful to me anyway that she would have just taken off by herself without anywhere to go.

I hope that you get a call from her soon and she is alright. It's a scary thing to have your "little girl" out there with you not knowing where she is.

What a beautiful girl my prayers and well wishes to her and her loved ones.
Why would she do this to her family? Is it a fact that it was her that called from the trailer park? If so I consider that very good news. Here's the thing she has been gone way too long to not be getting help with food and lodging that kind of thing. My guess is she hooked up with someone from the internet or phone chat line or possibly met someone new through friends and they aren't gonna tell if they know anything.

I was thinking about Claudia just this week. Wondering if there were any updates and then I found this post. I remember reading about her when this happened, and all the hard work you have done trying to post as much info on the internet about her. I am praying she comes home to you soon. You two were so close, I just can't imagine why she would leave. You are in my prayers.